It typically starts as a slow build—quieter signals of distress and needs unmet that many people ignore until the body “turns up the volume.” Tension-type headaches are the most common to experience, yet they’re often the most ignored. Like any symptom, being “common” doesn’t mean optimal functioning or it’s okay. Let’s break down how this occurs and how we can work to correct tension headaches from a comprehensive perspective.
ASSESSMENT
It’s important—no matter what is going on in the body—that you receive a proper assessment. To start, work with a doctor or practitioner that can differentiate and diagnose your headaches. Tension headaches often present like a band squeezing around the head with a more diffused spread of pain, rather than one particularly painful spot. These headaches involve muscle tightness and pain in the head, neck, and sometimes shoulders. Rarely do they involve nausea or visual changes; but let’s take the assessment further than just putting a label on it, and dig deeper. If you’re experiencing headaches, I encourage you to keep a log. Note when you experience them and include the time of day, duration, characteristics, associated symptoms, preceding activities, alleviating and aggravating factors, and intensity. This not only helps to determine contributing factors, but also to see the effects of any changes you make to resolve and prevent them.
DOWNSTREAM MANAGEMENT
The symptom-focused or “downstream” approach is to alleviate the pain and manage the headaches as they come. To start, this is necessary while you are experiencing them, but we eventually want to shift things so that you aren’t just chasing the pain (waiting for the next one to occur). Instead, we want to correct things upstream—at the root cause. Some pain management therapies can play a dual role by also correcting the causes.
Managing The Pain
- Magnesium Bisglycinate— supplementing with this can help reduce muscle tension and pain hypersensitivity. Many people are low in this mineral (due to low intake, poor metabolism, or increased use or elimination), and this leaves our muscles tight and also affects how our nervous system senses pain. A naturopathic doctor (ND) can work with you to make sure supplementation is beneficial and safe for you.
- Ginger extract (Zingiber officinale)— This herb has properties that are pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory. It can be used in treatment or strategically in a preventative approach for headaches. An ND or herbalist can work with you to make sure this is beneficial and safe for you.
- Acupuncture and cupping— These therapies can work acutely (when you experience a tension headache) as well as preventatively to release tension and encourage the body to shift away from the “tense response.”
- Massage therapy— A professional and/or self-massage of the neck and scalp muscles and fascia are important in a thorough treatment plan. This physically helps these tissues relax and release tension, but the experience also serves as a message that you are cared for, and you can use this as an opportunity to reset.
- Stretching— This involves the neck, chest, shoulders, and releasing at the base of the skull. Yoga to relieve neck and chest tension can be highly beneficial as it also creates an opportunity to ground yourself and reconnect with your body and your breath.
- Hydrotherapy and heat therapy— This involves applying moist heat to the neck and shoulder muscles to bring blood flow and ease tension, and/or applying a cool pack on the forehead to provide pain relief.
- Essential oils— Peppermint and lavender, for instance, can be used on the back of the neck, temples, and top of the head to help calm the nerves through aromatherapy; they also provide pain relief by activating your cold receptors.
HEALING UPSTREAM
So, what could be causing these headaches? Or a better line of questioning—what is your body telling you, and what is it asking for? I like to look at this in three ways:
Physical
Assessing your causes on a physical level includes looking at injuries, posture, repetitive strain, clenching of the jaw, sleep position, and cold exposure. Posture is incredibly important to assess, as most of us spend an excessive amount of time in positions causing our shoulders to be rounded and our heads to be carried in a forward position. Activities like holding our kids, driving, working on computers, or looking at our phones put our bodies in this posture for extended periods. Over time, our muscles become imbalanced, causing our muscles to work harder than they need to, which then leads to chronic muscle tension and pain.
Physiological
Other considerations include nutrient deficiencies (such as magnesium or vitamin D), and nutrition and lifestyle contributors (such as caffeine, alcohol, skipping meals, and fatigue). Each of these contribute to chronic tension headaches, and it’s important to look at these factors in a holistic treatment plan.
Mental-Emotional
This is the stress response. In many cases, our perception of stress causes a cascade in our nervous system that results in tensing muscles—especially in the shoulders, neck, and jaw. On this level, we could work to retrain the body’s response to the stress perceived. For example, being stuck in a traffic jam can often lead to tension in the body. We perceive stress (being late, wasting time, feeling stuck, etc.), and then we tense our muscles, even though this doesn’t change the situation. This makes the situation worse, because now we are in traffic and have a headache. Retraining on this level involves noticing the feelings of frustration or “stress” and, when we start to tense, pausing to consciously release and unwind. Working further upstream would involve unpacking why you perceive this situation as a stressor and how you could work toward a new vantage point. This is a very simplified example, and in reality, stress isn’t just found in a traffic jam; it’s pervasive throughout each day.
The tension that builds, and subsequent pain, is your body’s way of telling you that the influx of stress (physical or perceived) is too much, and it’s asking for release. As with many symptoms, the most effective approach will address all the different factors involved and start with making room to understand them.
